Process for preparing phthalocyanines containing ternary sulfonium salt groups



Patented Sept. 20, 194?) PATENT jji l Y SULFO- Na mqii nauti- Haddockglajnt i efiiriii M333,

Manchester, 'Engla'n ,Qheniical .lndu's'tris Great Britain 1,. assi ne se oi Im er a Limited, a corporation of rial N i. 786,790. In Great Britain November Easin lei. tii s'ftfi'i precession preparin'grphthalocyahiries containing ternary.sulphoiiillm,salt..gtoup s and more particularly\ ,to phthalqcyjanine derivatives which. cohtain ternarymsaltiemuhs; being .a e modification and/or improvement of the process of our U. S. Patent No. 2,464,806.

In. our U. 5;. PatentNo: '2,464;806vthere is described alprocessi'or the manufactureiof new watei'-soluble' .i phtha'lbcyanine derivatives -.vvfiich compriseswtr'eatin'g a phthaldcyanirie containing at. least tfvo chloro; of bronze..- methylfgrou'ps by methods knoi'vmto beheap'abl' 0! replacing the chlorine or bromine atoms of chloro-sdi'bromb methyl groupsdtiy quaternary ormter'nary salt groups .Ai's ane'xamplelof, a known method torreplacing the chlorine. or bromineflatom s by sulphuniuin groups there, is described the vreaction I of the chlorooizbromdmethyl deriyativewith an alkali; metalderivative .ofame'rcaptan andthen tn'a'atim;v the: smobtained' slillphidelgwith such .2 an ester as isiknown c to... convert. sulphides intbite'rnary. s'ul-i nhonium salts". rAsanexa'mple ofa known method for replacing the chlorine or brominewatoms by isothiouroniumjgroups.there is described the reagtionpf the ,chloroor promo-methyl derivative, witha .thiourea containing at. ,least .one hy dro en atom directly attached to. nitrogen. v. A. process. is also described for preparinglcompo'unds' 'q tainm salt groupsobynreacnnentir chloroo bromo: methyl derivative .withuthioureas con-m taining no free hydrogen, atoms directly attached to nitrogen for, example tetramethylthiourea.

We. have njow found that ltheu phthalocyanine derivatives containing .s'ulph'onium groups d-. sjcifiliedin U. S; Patent No. 2,46 4;806;ma 1 be made by reactingntheflchloroor bZOIRO; methyl .derivae tives with a thiourea to replace the chlorine or bromine.,.a toms by. salt groupspas. rdescribediin. U. S. Patent,Nat 2,464,896,; hydrolysiii he salt grou i .with. alkalilto give alkali metal. .mercaiptide groups, alkylating to give alkylmercapt'othyl.;z. nupseand.then reactingwith. an ester; According to our invention therefore-washrovide a process for the manufacture of watersoluble phthalocyaniffderivatives which comprises reacting with thiourea" or a substituted thiourea, a phthalqcyai'iine containing at least two chloroor bromo methyl groups, hydrolysing ter'r la alkylmercapto e hyl groups s; E gine-J9 elwe z;

.Y methyl) -phthal As examples of s ui tahle substituted thioureas there may be mentioned N-methylthiourea, tetramethylthiourea; 4v-d-tolylthioiira,N-phefiylthiourea aihdNz'NiN etrimethylthioura.. we The reaction between: the:phthalocyanine-derivative containingntleasttwo.chloroor promomethyl' groups and theki-hi'ourea io'r substitutedthioureaflm'ay rbe (broughtiabout for; example by heatingthe reagents together in aqueous i'nedium" and the product mayrbechydrolysednby heatinL-it with, for example, aqueous caustic soda solution. The phthalocyanine derivative so-obtained qente n eeiato e when met g fg r i .e

, 5? ylsiilphfatef for exam Example 1 24 parts of copper tri-(chloromethyl) phthalocyanine, 45.6 parts of thiourea and 80 parts of water are stirred together at 95 C. for 15 minutes. 200 parts of water and then 30 parts of salt are added. The isothiouroniumsalt which is precipitated as a dark blue solid is filtered off and x washed with salt solution.

The moist filter-cake is transferred to a closed vessel and the air inthe vessel is then displaced by nitrogen. A solution of 20 parts of caustic soda in 185 parts of water is added with stirring and the mixture is heated to 90 C. and then cooled. 140 parts of ethanol are added to the resulting dark green suspension, and 50.7 parts-of dimethyl sulphate are gradually added at 30-40? C. The colour of the suspension changes from dark green to bright blue. When the addition of dimethyl sulphate is complete, the mixture is heated to 70 C. and the blue solid is filtered off and washed well with water, and dried at 80-100 C. A bright blue powder is obtained, which consists of copper tri-(methylmercaptomethyl) phthalocyanine.

20 parts of copper tri-(methylmercaptometh yDphthalocyanine and 80 parts of dimethylsulphate are heated together at 80-85 C. for mmutes. The mixture so obtained is cooled and, diluted with 100 parts of acetone, and the sus-'- pended dark blue solid is filtered ofi, washed with acetone and dried at 60C. A blue powder is obtained which dissolves readily in water and the solution dyes cotton in bright blue shades having excellent iastness to washing and to light.

Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 24 parts of copper tri-(chloromethyl) phthalocyanine, 45.6 parts of thiourea and 80 parts of water are stirred together at 95 C. for minutes. 200 parts of water and then 30 parts of salt are added. The isothiouronium salt which is precipitated as a dark blue solid is filtered off and washed with 5% salt solution.

The moist filter cake is transferred to a closed vessel and the air in the vessel is then displaced by nitrogen. A soluti'on of parts'of caustic soda in 185 parts of water is added with stirring and the mixture is heated to 90 C. and then cooled. 50 parts of benzyl chloride are added at -40 C. The colour of the suspension changes from dark green to bright blue. When the addition of benzyl chloride is complete, the mixture is heated to70 C. and the blue solid is filtered oil and washed well with water, and dried at 80-100 C. A brightblue powder is obtained which consists essentially of copper tri-(benzylmercapto- 4 methyl) phthalocyanine.

- 20 parts of copper tri-(benzylmercaptomethyl)phthalocyanine; 30 parts of dimethyl sulphate and 30 parts of p-ethoxyethanol are heated together at 110-120 C. for 30 minutes. The mixture so obtained is cooled and diluted with 100 parts of acetone, and-the suspended dark blue solid is filtered at C. A blue powder is obtained which dissolves readily in water, and the solution so obtained dyes cotton in bright blue shades.

Example 5 24 parts of copper tri-chlorometh'yl phthalocyanine, 100 parts of o-tolylthiourea and 100 parts of p-hydroxyethanol are heated'together at 95- 100 C. for 30 minutes. '200 parts of acetone. are added and the precipitated blue solid is filteredofi and washed with acetone and thenwith fi l salt solution. 7

The moist filter-cake is transferred to a closed vessel and treated with caustic soda and dimethyl sulphate in the manner paragraph of Example 1. A bright blue powder, consisting. essentially .of copper tri-(methylmer captomethyl)phthalocyanine,is obtained; This is 36 parts of the tetramethylthiourea salt OfCOP! per tri-(chloromethyl)phthalocyanine, made as described in Example 2 of U. S. Patent No. 2,464,806, are dissolved in 400 parts of water in a closed vessel. The air of nitrogen and 30 parts of caustic soda are added. The mixture is heated to 90 Crand then cooled.

' 100 parts of ethanol are added and then 50.7.

is displaced by means.

blue powder is obtained,

that described in Example 1.

heated with dimethyl sulphate in the manner de-- scribed in the last paragraph of Example 1. The

product is similar to that described in Example 1. We claim: a

1. In' process for the manufacture of water soluble phthalocyanine derivatives i containingternary sulphoniumsalt groups, the steps which comprise hydrolysing in an aqueous solution of an alkali metal hydroxide, a compound of the for-.1

mula R {CHzXh wherein R; is the radicalfof a phthalocyanine compound formed by removingnatomsv of hydrogen from the molecule, 72 is an interger greater than 1 andX is an isothiouronium salt group, and alkylating the resulting alkali metal mercaptide to give a compound of the formula R{CH2SA1k) n, whereinfAlk is an alkyl group and R and n have above.

'2. A process as claimed in claim '1 wherein R is'the radical of a copper phthalocyanine.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein X is the radical:

off, washed with acetone and dried 7 described in the second;

the significance given 3. A process as claimed in claim 2 wherein 5 5. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the UNITED STATES PATENTS aqueous solution of an alkali metal hydroxide is an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. g??? a1 g NORMAN HULTON HADDOCK. CLIFFORD WOOD. 5 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date REFERENCES CITED 587,636 Great Britain May 1, 1947 The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 

